196 Ships Broken Worldwide in Q1
Of the 196 ships sold for scrap in the first quarter of 2017, 65 percent ended up on beaches in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, said South Asia quarterly update of NGO Shipbreaking Platform.
128 ships were sold for scrap to the South Asian beaches in the first quarter of 2017.
51 of the beached vessels were containerships. The other main shipbreaking destinations, Turkey and China, received 36 and 28 vessels respectively. Four ships were destined for recycling in other locations outside the main five breaking nations.
Eleven workers were killed and at least four additional workers were injured while cutting down the vessels manually on the tidal beaches of India, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
In Gadani, Pakistan, yet another tragedy caused the death of shipbreaking workers. After the major explosion on the tanker ACES on November 1, 2016, another fire broke out on a Greek owned LPG tanker, GAZ FOUNTAIN. The fire claimed five lives and seriously injured one worker.
37 ships were sold to the Chittagong breaking yards. As many as six accidents struck the industry the first months of 2017 killing three workers and seriously injuring another three.
The Alang beach in India was the most popular destination for end-of-life ships this quarter, with 69 ships sold for breaking. The yards in Alang have recently been portraying their practices as improved compared to Bangladesh and Pakistan.
European companies accounted for half of the vessels beached in South Asia in the first quarter.
